THE HOLIDAY: National Cat Day was founded by animal welfare advocate Colleen Paige. It is a celebration that takes place on October 29, every year in the United States. The National Cat Day website states that the holiday was first celebrated in 2005, "to help galvanize the public to recognize the number of cats that need to be rescued each year and also to encourage cat lovers to celebrate the cat(s) in their life for the unconditional love and companionship they bestow upon us." More

THE ART: In 2004, high school senior Steve Ibsen created a humble stop-motion video. The piece featured his cat Kayla appearing to dance to what is arguably one of the catchiest tunes of the early aughts—thus launching one of the first cat memes to dance its way into the collective consciousness of a generation. For your pleasure on this most culturally important of days, the abridged lyrics appear below:

CAT, I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance danceCAT, I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance...PURRRRRVOCATIVE POSING! PURRRRRVOCATIVE POSING! CAT, I'm a kitty cat, and I meow meow meow, and I meow meow meow...I say sexy things to myself when I'm... Daaaancing! I say sexy things to myself when I'm... Daaaancing! PURRRRRVOCATIVE POSING! PURRRRRVOCATIVE POSING! bat, I'm a picky pat, and i boop be boop babba boop boop boopCAT, I'm a kitty cat, and I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance